Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Global Mapper 11 Export to GeoPDF for Acrobat Reader

The Adobe Acrobat Reader 9.x has a Geospatial Location Tool function which can be used to display geographical positions in latitude, longitude and easting, northing values in GeoPDF (PDF with geo-location information) files.

The new Global Mapper 11 has an Export to GeoPDF function which can create PDF files that can be viewed in the Acrobat Reader. It is quite straightforward to use this function - simply stylize and layout the map display then export to GeoPDF.

Creating the GeoPDF file

Before creating the GeoPDF, the layers you want to export need to be displayed and stylized in Global Mapper as shown below.

Note: the example screenshot shows three layers - a GeoTiff image, State polygons and city point features.

Select File | Export PDF/GeoPDF File.

The PDF Export Options dialog box appears.

Change any settings as required. For example, change the Orientation setting to Landscape from Portrait. Click OK.

The Save As dialog box appears.

Browse to the output folder and type in the output File name. Click Save.

The GeoPDF file is created.

Viewing the GeoPDF Coordinates in Acrobat Reader

In Windows Explorer, double click on the GeoPDF file created previously.

The file is displayed in Acrobat Reader.

Click the Layers icon on the left to display the list of layers (as shown above).

Using the Layer list, layers can toggle on or off as shown below by clicking the eye icon.

Select Tools | Analysis | Geospatial Location Tool or click the right icon on the Analysis toolbar.The coordinate readout display is shown on the bottom right.

Note: the readout can be a combination of latitude/longitude and/or easting/northing coordinates depending on the Acrobat Reader Preferences settings.

Move the cursor around the map display.

The cursor coordinates are displayed dynamically.

Marking Locations on the GeoPDF

Right click anywhere on the map display.

A pop up menu appears.

Choose Find a Location.

The location entry fields are displayed at the bottom right.

Type in a coordinate. Press RETURN.

The typed in coordinate is marked on the map display.

Now with GeoPDF files, geospatial information can be easily generated and distributed for viewing using a simple Adobe Acrobat Reader desktop application.